Monday, March 02, 2015

The graphic above comes from trends.google.com using the search term "instructional design".

This is a bit surprising to me as I see online training becoming more and more popular every day. I see the digital marketing world promoting the online courses as another great form of content. I see more and more bloggers in the world of online training. And of course the blog aggregation sites are still as popular as ever.

I'm curious to hear what you have to say about this. What's the deal with instructional design?

Friday, February 06, 2015

The future of Higher Ed is in jeopardy for many reasons. But the single biggest reason is the declining value of their value proposition: The Degree.

The future of Grading scales in all of education are in jeopardy... well... because they just don't accurately measure true competency in a subject. How many adults do you know that took 2 to 4 years of a foreign language in school but can't communicate in that language?

Certification and certificate programs make for a nice addition to the line items on your resume, as well as a nice plaque for your cubical wall. But do they really prove competence in a newly acquired skill or knowledge set?

Listen to Mark Cuban talk about the future of your social media presence and then we can continue.

I've had conversations prior to seeing this video regarding technologies he, and others, are working on in this space. But until now, I haven't seen it openly discussed like this. And what that tells me is that 1) it's real, 2) it's coming faster than anticipated, and 3) it means a LOT more than what Mr. Cuban mentions in this video.

He mentions the movie Minority report which sort of kills a little of the credibility here as viewers will most likely brush off his ideas as crazy. But if you think about what's currently possible (like how much Facebook knows about you) and how fast things are moving it begins to make a lot of sense.

Do you see the same connections to our industry that I see?

Can you read the first part of this blog post, watch the video, and see where this is going?

Let's put aside the fact that the video is fear mongering to help sell apps. He's trying to solve a problem that everyone views as a problem: the evils of the internet and how communicating on it will most certainly one day be what defeats you. That is a completely different blog post for another time.

I prefer to take a much more positive spin on these types of new technologies. If there are algorithms than can predict your personality type, and possible future actions, based on your social media presence, then I will tell you that there are, in fact, algorithms that can also determine your skills and competencies based on the same social graph.

It is not all that different from today's version of "being published" in academia, or showing a portfolio of work in artistic fields like photography, writing, and other fine arts. Your competence is on display every day. And you are only viewed as good as your last big success.

Leveling the Playing Field

There is a powerful leveling of the playing field when you are forced to prove your skills and competencies or basically they don't exist.

Instead of saying you speak 3 languages, the social algorithms will gather all of your online interactions and be able to know if it's true, and to what level you are competent in that skill. It will assess if you've ever communicated with others in those languages and how well you communicated. It will see pictures of your time spent in countries speaking those languages along with the dates to calculate your level of competence. It's a simple example, but it makes sense, right?

And opting out as Mr. Cuban's app supports will be more problematic for everyone. Apps like his will quickly become the default standard for communicating the things you wouldn't communicate publicly. And that's not a bad thing, but it does expose the reality of the human condition in that we all have our demons.

The way I see it, all of this new technology is simply forcing the progression of who we are as people. Are we understanding, forgiving, and loving of others... including their inner demons? Or are we the type of people looking to step on a few heads to get ahead?

In the end, we won't stop this technology from existing. But it will redefine our public institutions, and who we are as a collective redefining our culture. How we learn and what we learn and master will be measured and visible to all...for better or worse.

"Fun in games arises out of mastery. It arises out of comprehension. It is the act of solving puzzles that makes games fun. With games, learning is the drug."

Learning is the drug! It's such a great line because it's so true. There is such a great high that comes from working hard on a problem and seeing it through until you get it right.

Knowing how learning is such a big part of games, and fun, it bothers me to continue seeing the eLearning industry struggle to figure out how to make learning fun. Game designers seem to have an innate ability to figure out fun, and yet instructional design is void of any discussion around fun. The closest we get is talking about "engaging the learner".

BARF!

I'd rather tell designers to figure out how learners can have FUN!

And NO! I'm not talking about a Jeopardy template, or crossword puzzle, or drag'n'drop matching quiz game. That's what we get when we attempt to connect pre-made games with learning. I'm just talking about fun. There must be a way to create learning content that is so fun for learners that they WANT to "play", or "engage", with the learning.

The Serendipity of Social Media and Reflection

This entire blog post is really just an attempt to capture fleeting thoughts and memories for me. Seeing Koreen's tweet reminded me of meeting her for the first time at DevLearn. And how we all used to be so excited about the coming together of games and learning. Koreen even created the Zombie Apocalypse game for DevLearn2010. Other eLearning community members, Kris Rockwell (@KrisRockwell) and Alicia Sanchez (@gamesczar) later created a card game for mLearnCon called "A Game of Phones".

And reading about Brenda's success reminded me of booking her to do a workshop at DevLearn2010. I was only able to sit in on the workshop briefly, but I do remember wishing I could have spent the entire day in there with her and the other attendees.

I booked a lot of speakers for eLearning Guild events, but I can honestly say she was by far my favorite. And quite frankly I think she does more for learning and education than most who are actually IN Learning and Education related fields.
If you really want to know why I find Brenda so exceptional, then just watch her TEDxPHX talk for a brief glimpse into her work and how she views games...and the world. Trust me on this. You'll be glad you did.

From the extreme lack of interaction on the pbwiki site I'm reminded how much these technologies scared training people. I remember the rolling eyes, the many dissenting opinions around security, and my personal favorite...

Will anyone admit to being freaked out by this stuff back then? Probably about as many twitter "experts" will admit to "not getting it" when they first signed up.

(Feel free to join the pbwiki and add your comments or memories from back then. Maybe I'll keep it around and breath life back into it.)

Times have changed...FINALLY!

I'm looking at 2015 as the year everything we longed for back in 2005 has finally come true. Complex corporate cultures are even beginning to come around...even if the old guard corporate leadership continues to struggle with it.

2015 will certainly be filled with new incredible technologies. But for our little world of training and eLearning, 2015 is the year we finally see the culture shift we've been looking for. More on that later.

Monday, December 22, 2014

This is episode 4 of The Brent Schlenker podcast. Shannon Tipton, Founder of LearningRebels.com, is my guest. Shannon is the 4th corporate training professional I've interviewed for this podcast. We covered a lot of ground in our conversation and had a lot of fun.

If you would like to be a guest, feel free to contact me @bschlenker on Twitter, or leave a comment here. Or if you'd rather just ask a specific question you can always send me your questions with the hashtag #askBschlenker. (...because #askBrent is already taken by Brent Rivera who apparently tweets naked.)

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

This is episode 3 of The Brent Schlenker Podcast. In this episode I chat with Tom Spiglanin, engineer turned training professional. Tom and I have been connected online for a long time, but only recently met face-to-face at DevLearn2014.

We talked about microvideos, and microlearning, as well as answering a question about keeping up with rapidly changing content.

After you listen to the podcast I'd love to get your feedback. Hit me up on twitter @bschlenker, or just leave a comment here.

Thursday, December 04, 2014

This is episode 2 of The Brent Schlenker Podcast. In this episode I talk with Chiara Hughes of HeadFarmer recruiting.

We covered a few topics:

What is Head Farmer?

How Chiara got into recruiting

Your LinkedIn Profile

Your Resume - Do you still need one?

Mistakes to avoid on your resume and LinkedIn Profile

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In the spirit of learning out loud I'm posting this episode of the podcast without using soundcloud. I'm learning how to use google drive to hold my podcast file, and then using blogger to publish. Let me know how this works for you. Thanks! BSchlenker

Okay...so that didn't work. I've updated this post with the soundcloud version. I will keep trying new options.

Tuesday, December 02, 2014

We've all seen the many blog posts on the benefits of storytelling and learning. But I wonder if it's beneficial in a corporate business setting where workers just want the information they need, fast, so they can get back to work. Are today's employees capable of sitting through a storytelling session? Should they be?

The above thoughts were sparked by the following info graphic below. What do you think about the story format in the workplace? I'd love to hear what you think.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

I wasn't kidding in my last post. It really is time for reinvention and kicking things up a notch... or in this case, TWO notches. Besides starting a newsletter (SUBSCRIBE here), I've also started a little podcast: BS talks about eLearning.

Like everything else I do it's a work in progress, but I'm happy with finally taking that first step. It will be available for subscription via iTunes soon. I'm still figuring out all of the details.

If you have feedback or ever want to be on the show just contact me via twitter: @bschlenker.

Monday, November 24, 2014

Hey, you guys ROCK! Thanks for riding this social media, blogging, eLearning2.0 roller coaster with me.

I'm into the 10th year of this blog and so I'm trying something new. In continuing the spirit of this little 10 year communication experiment, I'll be launching a newsletter.

Like everything else about this blog I don't know how often I will send one, or exactly what I will be including in it. I want it to be valuable information that helps you grow in your career. I don't claim to know anything more than you, but I'll share my years of experience and test out new technologies with you. I will respect your time, your email address, and our relationship.